Tax man is coming for you

Those who are dodging the tax man should beware – the South African Revenue Service (SARS) is chasing you.

This morning, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan told journalists ahead of his Budget speech in the National Assembly that he was “extremely concerned about what appears to be an increasing level of non-compliance with tax laws, particularly at the higher end”.

Rich people and companies will be pursued more “aggressively” to get them to pay up, he said.

Gordhan said this was one of the ways government could use to increase its revenue. Other ways of doing so include cutting expenditure, but “not to the point of imposing austerity on our people”, boosting growth and economic activity, and selling off assets that aren’t useful.

In his speech delivered in Parliament, Gordhan said SARS was speaking to companies that use South Africa as a base “but appear to have shifted a large proportion of their profits to low tax jurisdictions where only a few people are employed”.

He said this was “unacceptable”. This issue was addressed at the G20 summit in Moscow, Russia, earlier this month where finance ministers all supported an overhaul of international company tax rules.

He thanked “millions of honest taxpayers in our country” who “continue to sustain our growth and development agenda”.

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